King of Bananas

Jack and Matt Pandol: A long time Reagan backer whose company imports all of Nicaragua’s bananas said the trade embargo with that country will “shove the Nicaraguans more into the arms of Russians.” Jack Pandol, who with this brother, Matt, runs an import-export firm based in Delano, California said its contract with Nicaragua represents almost 25 per cent of the firms $100 million a year business. Bananas are Nicarauga’s biggest export to the United States, amounting to $23,5 million last year, according to the State Department figures.  All of Nicaragua’s exported to bananas are shipped to Pandol Brothers Inc. “It’s hard for me to criticize my government and this may sound like sour grapes, but politics sometimes dosn’t make any sense,” Pandol said. “I’ve gone down (to Nicaragua) and never found any ill-feeling toward me. The people there are hungry and they’re suffering. Pandol said his firm does not pay for the bananas in dollars but with fertilizer. “It’s a barter arrangement,” he said. He said President Reagan’s plan to bar trade with Managua will mean layoffs for about 1000 workers who unload and truck 150 million pounds of Nucaraguan bananas a year. A blunt, outspoken man, Pandol is a longtime Republican financial supporter. When Reagan was governor of California, he appointed Pandol to the state Board of Food and Agriculture.  Pandol is now one of the Governor Deukmejian’s appointees to the state Export Finance Board. The Pandol’s people came from the island of Hvar, Dalmatia, Croatia.